Some devices use liquids to perform various functions. Consider, for example, a heat exchanger 100 such as the one illustrated in FIG. 1. The heat exchanger 100 may have a first surface 110 (e.g., at 100° Celsius(C.)) and a second surface 120 (e.g., at 50° C.) and might use water or other liquids stored in, or moving through, internal channels or chambers to facilitate a transfer of heat.
Impurities and contaminants in the liquid may form on surfaces within the heat exchanger 100. This “fouling layer” 102 might include organic, inorganic, and/or biological material. For example, organic deposits might include polymers and inorganic materials might include Calcite.
Eventually, the fouling layer 102 may grow thick enough to substantially decrease performance of the heat exchanger 100 (e.g., the energy efficiency of the device may be substantially reduced). By this point, however, removing the relatively thick fouling layer 102 can be a time consuming and expensive process. For example, a factory might need to be shut down while a massive chemical cleaning of the heat exchanger is performed.